Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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Social impact investors,
philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social
responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed
"doing good." This essay classifies the various
types of measures that currently exist to capture social and
environmental impact in a simple scheme. It argues that
there is a basic "staircase of results
measurement." A first level of measures captures some
aspect of "organizational readiness." The next
level describes some form of "result" that may or
may not be attributable to the organization trying to do
good. The third level gets at "impact" that can be
attributed to an intervention. Beyond this, there are
measures that assess the costs and benefits of
interventions, allow aggregation of results from different
interventions and comparison among them or across time.
Finally, the essay discusses how measures are tied to
incentives. It argues that the various approaches can
produce more or less helpful measures but cannot be expected
to yield anything approaching a true "double" or
"triple" bottom line. A true "bottom
line" involves aggregation and comparability of costs
and benefits and provides incentives to perform. The
multitude of social and environmental measurement schemes
will by necessity remain a patchwork that can be thought of
as describing the "product characteristics" of a
company's output. Accounting profit remains the only
measure that effectively aggregates costs and benefits and
provides incentives. Profit itself is not just a necessity
for organizational survival. It measures whether
organizations meet client needs. It is thus an important
measure of social impact in its own right. This may be
unsurprising, but it sets expectations straight compared
with currently widespread unrealistic hopes for the
measurement of social and environmental impact and redirects
attention to paying attention to profitability as part of
impact measurement.
Palabras clave
ABATEMENT, ACCOUNTING, ACCOUNTING STANDARDS, AGRICULTURE, ASSET CLASS, BANK POLICY, BENCHMARKING, BENCHMARKS, BENEFICIARIES, BENEFICIARY, BENEFIT ANALYSIS, BEST PRACTICE, BEST PRACTICES, BUSINESSES, BUYERS, CARBON, CARBON EMISSIONS, CENTRAL PLANNING, COMPETITIVE MARKETS, CONSUMERS, CONTINGENT VALUATION, CORPORATE CULTURE, CORPORATE FINANCE, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS, COST EFFECTIVENESS, CREDIBILITY, CUSTOMER DEMAND, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP, DEVELOPMENT BANK, DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, DEVELOPMENT FINANCE, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, DURABLE, DURABLE GOODS, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, ECONOMICS, ECONOMISTS, ELECTRICITY, EMISSIONS, EMPLOYMENT, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, EXPECTED RETURN, EXPECTED RETURNS, EXTERNALITIES, FAIR TRADE, FINANCIAL HEALTH, FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE, FINANCIAL SERVICES, FLEXIBLE LABOR MARKETS, FRAUD, GLOBAL ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION, GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS, GROWTH RATE, HUMAN RESOURCE, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, INCOME, INCOME TAX, INNOVATION, INTERNATIONAL BANK, INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, INVESTING, JOB CREATION, LABOR LAWS, LABOR MARKETS, LOAN, MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, MARKET ECONOMIES, MARKET PRICE, MARKET PRICES, MARKET RETURNS, MARKET WAGES, MARKETING, MEDIUM ENTERPRISES, MICRO FINANCE, MICRO-FINANCE, MICROFINANCE, MOBILE PHONES, MOTIVATION, OIL, OPEN ACCESS, OUTPUTS, OVERHEAD COSTS, PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, PERSONAL COMMUNICATION, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLLUTION, PORTFOLIO, PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRODUCTIVITY, PROTOCOLS, PUBLIC GOODS, PUBLIC SAVINGS, PURCHASING POWER, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, RESULT, RESULTS, SAFETY, SALES REPRESENTATIVE, SHADOW PRICES, SOCIAL BENEFITS, SOCIAL COSTS, SOCIAL NETWORKS, SUPPLIERS, SUPPLY CHAINS, TAX, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, TOTAL COSTS, TRANSPARENCY, UNEMPLOYED, USES, WAGES, WELFARE SYSTEM